Sight Unseen
by LostInTheDreams
Summary: Harry has to go a few hours outside Chicago to face a mysterious enemy he's never encountered before, and a kid's life hanging on the line. With Thomas the only one he can turn to, they'll have to deal with mind control, murder, and a stowaway or two.
1. Chapter 1

**This story takes place some time after book 10, Small Favor, though it is not a direct continuation of the story.**

First fan fiction in the category. Hope I live up to your expectations.  
>Thanks to <em>Crystal Dragon's Lament <em>for beta reading for me

_For the record I live like 10 minutes from Chicago and I'm an idiot for making the story take place somewhere else.  
>If you are from Normal, Illinois I'm sorry for massacring the description of the area. I've never been there.<em>

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><p><strong>Sight Unseen<strong>

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><p><strong>Chapter 1<strong>

Finding a small, quiet neighborhood in Chicago is like trying to find Bigfoot in your backyard. You might think that Chicago, being the active city it is, has neighborhoods more suited for its elderly or family-oriented population. You'd be wrong, but that hasn't stopped people from assuming. Every neighborhood around here has some sort of trouble. Anything from street gangs to drug dealers, to vampires and ghosts liked to make their home here. Most of the baddies that make their nests here, both supernatural and not, I've never seen. That's how deep the underworld lies. And the ones I have, I've never seen again. It takes something serious to get me out of the office and track down one or more low-lifes. Most of the time, stopping them included either scaring them badly enough that I never spot them again, or they never made it around to tomorrow for me to worry about seeing them.

There was one neighborhood that I'd come across that was an exception to that rule, and that was Michael's. The Knight of the Cross must have had some external mojo floating around him that extended to the surrounding mile or so in each direction of his house. I had to think an arch angel or two probably visited his place regularly. It sure as hell kept the bad side of the supernatural community away. Maybe there was something to be said about Michael's unwavering belief. Then again, belief never got _me_ that far. I may have been on someone's naughty list a few to many times.

In my neighborhood, well, _I_ was the problem in my neighborhood.

That was why my latest client had me running through half the state. Like any regular person out there who wasn't making money off the drugs they get from their friend down the street or an ex-con, itching to reaffirm his power on new turf, they were looking for the quiet life in the great city of Chicago. And they found it several hours away.

That life that my client had found wasn't so quiet anymore, and I had to travel nearly five hours by train to get to the middle of nowhere, street thugs and whining children alike wandering around said machine of death to make my life hell. I'd never been very fond of trains from the start, preferring my small, beat-up little Beetle over a rolling metal behemoth. My little Volkswagen couldn't handle more than an hour's drive in my presence though, and a train really was the only option open to me. Magic and all. Sometimes it really sucked being a wizard.

As if the train ride, which was delayed halfway through with only open fields full of dead grass to watch wither wasn't enough, I got off in Bloomington, surrounded by a whole lot more nothing and no client in sight.

I sighed. This day was turning out real promising.

Then again, I wouldn't have come out here for nothing.

The man had agreed to meet at the station because I wasn't going to cross the open field for a total walking distance of over two hours and I had no money for a cab. Looking around, I couldn't imagine that such a small place would have many travelers, so hoping to find a cab service didn't have a very good outlook anyway.

Yeah. A gas station, a service mart, and a whole lot of nothing. More dead grass snuck up my worn boats in an attempt to open my eyes to the wonders of the wide prairies before me.

I kicked at the grass. Yeah right. Growing up in Chicago left little for another landscape to impress upon, and the absence of the towering buildings was nerve-racking instead of calming. I knew my home. This wasn't it.

I waited at the station for all of five minutes before my patience wore out and I started walking down the street, heading towards Normal. There was great irony to be found in that. Ryan Fairwell had a nice, small, two story house somewhere in the city of Normal, Illinois that was anything but what its name implied. It was why I'd made the exception to travel for this case. Heck, some of the supernatural stuff in my own neighborhood couldn't get me out of bed, if that was any indication for how my day was looking out to end.

Over the phone, while Ryan was giving me the same old sob story about spookies haunting him, the same type of call that I got at least once a month, I could hear the inflections of power running through his voice. No additional whisper of a second speaker, but something that was making it hesitate or quiver at parts in his speech that no disease would hinder, as if the influence behind him didn't want him to talk about what was going on. That, even with the phone static, is hard to to miss when you've seen things like this happen before. I can't explain how I knew. There was no physical sign or anything overly unusual about the amount of static over the line that usually came from magical interference. It's like someone a trying to figure out what separates a Bordeaux from a Burgundy wine. The average man doesn't know, and neither did I, but that didn't mean there wasn't a huge difference to someone who's made a living out of it. Mind control spells were hard to notice when they didn't want to be, but this one was done by someone just learning their ABC's of magic. Easy and sloppy.

Something was imposing its will on Ryan and several of people in the houses, or farms in this case, surrounding him. That was a big no-no in the magical world. Killing a human is worse, but bewitching them to act against their nature is high up there too, and judging from situation, it sounded like whoever was doing it was a wizard. No supernatural baddie would bewitch people to make them to, let's say, _look the other way_ after their house had been graffitied.

I'd let Molly slip up once and I didn't want to see another kid coming into power fall victim to the White Council. Whoever it was, they were young and stupid. If I got to them first, the Wardens never needed to know about it, aside from the fact that I was working with them now. I didn't count. I wasn't like them and they weren't afraid to let me know it.

A rusted old Ford pulled up beside me, my long legs already having eaten up a mile and working on the second, though with all the exercise I'd been getting in I wasn't tired from it. The weather was nice, but the train ride and lack of any familiar surroundings left me in a bad mood. I'm sure my irritation is what made the man driving slowly beside me look like he wanted to pull away. His truck must have thought the same thing, whining when it caught a whiff of my magic, as unintentional as it was. Wizards couldn't control the whispers of power running through them when they're angry, and happy I was not.

"Ryan?" I asked innocently, trying my best to calm his nerves while settling my own anger. There could have been a dozen reasons he was late and being spelled couldn't be helping. While I had no idea what the man looked like before now, so I couldn't be sure this was the person over the phone who I had talked to. I, on the other hand, was hard to miss me anywhere, let alone the yellow field around me that made my black duster stand out like a beacon. My coat and staff were currently getting the look-over. Most people in Chicago were tolerant of the way other people dressed, or more accurately, didn't want to get involved with anyone strange enough to carry around the things that I did. Ryan, if that was him, didn't seem to have the same upbringing in liberalism.

"Mr. Dresden?"

Ah, so this was my man. I nodded to him, sending out my senses in a cursory sweep, hearing the truck buck again, and narrowing them to focus solely on Ryan. He'd definitely been spelled, and more than once. His eyes still had a thin glaze over them to show that someone had been tampering with his memories.

Ryan wasn't a weak person either. He looked like he had a will as strong as his burly arms. I was sure he could lift something three times my weight and, no matter how gangly I am, I outweigh most of the people I know. Ryan's t-shirt declared 'PEACE' in rainbow colored letters and his stained jeans spoke of long hours in the mud. His dark hair was folded over to one side of his head, but aside from the cataract glare in his hazel eyes, he looked very much like Michael. So in other words, he was the fatherly type of person who, while they had strength, would rather use it to pick you up off the ground then put you there. Then again, looks had deceived me before.

"Yeah." I nodded again to the truck. "Can I come in?"

Ryan blinked a few times, vacant stare clearing some. "Sure. I'm sorry. I've never had to… do anything like this before. I'm not used to-" Ryan didn't continue and I didn't really need him to. Not very many people were used to believing someone who called themselves a wizard, at least, not until they were in a bad enough situation and had nowhere else to go.

"I know, Mr. Fairwell. Now tell me, exactly when did you notice that you were missing gaps of time in your memory? How long would you say the worst of it lasted?" I hoisted myself into the seat, feeling the worn material wrap around my body and relax me. I was never a fan of new things when old things just had so much more comfort in them. Once I was in the truck and Ryan pulled away, the tension eased.

"About a month ago. " He said after a silent, boring minute of driving. I had to figure to was taking time to compose himself. That, or he was afraid of any scarecrows listening. "It's happened at least three times that I know of. The first, I was going out to my front yard to get the paper and I saw… something. I can't remember what it was. The next thing I knew, there were these markings all over my house that hadn't been there when I walked out and the coffee I had just made was already cold. I couldn't have been out there for more than a few minutes but, the way everything was, even the time, it was like a half an hour had passed."

Half an hour. Damn.

Maybe this wasn't an amateur. Even I could only affect memories within, maybe, ten minutes without causing damage. Not that I had done it before, but that didn't mean that I couldn't. Then again, it was still a possibility that I was dealing with a new wizard that had recently come into their powers and they were just gifted at mind manipulation like Molly was at veils.

Yeah. Maybe if I keep telling myself things like that, I'll believe it one day.

"What about the other two occasions?" I asked, trying to get a better read on who I was up against.

"Same thing, really. I went outside a week later, at night with my son, Joshua. He's twelve years old. We were going out to the garage because the frame of his desk in his room was falling apart and I needed some screws. We were halfway there when I saw this- I don't know, black shape of some kind. The next second it's gone and my wife is screaming to us from the door, asking what's taking us so long. When I asked her later that night, she said we'd been gone for over twenty minutes."

Things were going from bad to worse. It was one thing to bewitch one person. Once. To do it to the same person and simultaneously do it to his son as well, and for such a long period of time... That was something else. I couldn't do it and I could name the number of wizards who could to the number of girls who turned Thomas down. For those who don't know my half-brother very well, that would come to a total of zero. And I knew a lot of powerful wizards.

There were no ominous thunderclouds yet, but the way this story was shaping out, it wasn't leaving me with much doubt that I would regret ever traveling to the middle of bumblefuck when I knew almost nothing about the job aside from the fact that I needed to act before anyone higher up found out about it.

I let my senses wander around Ryan again. The magical residue was human, no doubt it. Maybe something from the Never-never could pull of what he was describing to me, but not a mortal. But damn it if anything from the supernatural side of the fence wanted to be remotely linked to anything human anymore than a dinosaur would want to be compared to an ant. For the most part, it was true enough.

"The last time it happened was just a few days ago. I was with Joshua again and- I knew I had to get help before it got any further. You, Mr. Dresden, were the only person who believed what I was saying. I've gone to so many others already that, I have to tell you, you're my last hope."

"I understand." I nodded to him, feeling the weight of his worry settle around both of us. I detected something underneath that worry. "What happened the last time that has you so scared?"

Ryan jolted as if I'd shocked him. His eyes remained on the road, steadfastly determined not to give anything away. "I'm not sure."

I waited. That was how I had to deal with skeptics. Go blabbering on about the supernatural and all the dangers that came with it, and you wind up scaring the average Joe enough that all they want to do is yell at you about what malarkey you're throwing around and force you to leave. I've lost more cases that way than I care to think about. Not that I'd ever let something like this slip through my fingers, but it would certainly be a lot harder without his cooperation, seeing as I couldn't relay on Murphy this far away from Chicago.

Ryan sighed. "Joshua has a mark on him. The last time, we were in the house, watching a television program. It's the reason I can't lie to myself about this anymore. The show was halfway through when it happened. I kinda knew what to expect this time. When I blinked. the lights outside the window had gotten darker, as if someone turned off a light, and the show after had already started. I never fell asleep. I know, that sounds crazy and you're going to tell me I did fall asleep and just don't remember it. But I didn't. I found Joshua passed out just as I realized that something had happened. He has this dark mark on him now, almost like a hand print that had black paint on it. No matter what we try, it won't come off. At night he has these nightmares. I don't know, Mr. Dresden. Do you have any kids?"

"None of my own, but I know the feeling." Molly was currently staying in my basement apartment, taking care of my cat and dog while I was out of town. It was a full-time job. "You want what's best for him, and right now you don't know what's wrong or how to help."

"Yeah."

Everything was silent for a few minutes as we traveled down the sparse road. "So? Can you help?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "I've never come across this kind of thing before. I'll do what I can to make sure that you and the rest of the people in town are safe."

"Thank you." The relief in his voice calmed my own nervous heart, as well as his.

I ignored the fields that surrounded us. We really were in the middle of nowhere. In the last mile I'd seen two farms, some little shacks that pop up like weeds, and a whole lot of nothing. This was wild country and I was in it now. I almost hated being the only car on the road compared to Chicago's bustling traffic jams that left you and half the city hoarse.

Now, to think on this. Problem one, I knew of no human that could create and _use_ this type of power. Sure, I could whip up enough force to be able to impose my will on someone, but not on this level. It was too perfect. This magic more resembled the hypnotic seduction of vampires than my own brand, and yet the presence hanging off of Ryan was definitely mortal. Either someone got their hands on a lot of magic and knowledge and was using it to play pranks on this man, or this was something new. Something that was going to be a hell of a lot harder to fight than what I'd planned. Hell, this was something that I'd want my back up to have back up for.

Problem number two, the only thing that I knew that would leave that type of imprint on a person like the way he'd described his son was marked, was black magic. Not your ordinary, run of the mill, dark wizard either. What happens with mortal black magic is that it leaves you and your victim with physic damage, or physical. It didn't actually mark you. Burn you, sure. Paint you tie-dye? Not a chance. Only something like a Denarian could make this type of mark, if they chose to make one at all, and damn it to hell if I was ready to take on one of those again. I'd needed help surviving every single one I'd encountered, let alone defeating one. Considering Joshua didn't sound like he'd sprouted extra eyes and was intent on murdering everyone in sight, that also meant that whoever, or whatever this creature was, it had marked him for something and was bidding it's time until be boy became necessary.

And that leads us to problem number three. I was planning to go up against a person just coming into power, not a demi-god. I had my staff and blasting rod, but that's like dueling a killer with a squirt gun. I could make them angry, maybe get them a little wet, but I wouldn't be the one laughing when it was all over.

Oh boy. Yep. Just my kind of day.

"Mr. Dresden?"

I blinked, looking around when I noticed a more similar looking landscape. No more farms but the houses were closer to suburbia than I'd seen in some time. I was in some layman's definition of a neighborhood, consisting of a total of maybe twenty houses grouped together before the fields once again ate at civilization. Yes, the fields were the ones eating away at us. Forget the activist movement, I'd rather face down the dangers that I knew were out there than fight off hungry animals that hung around places like this.

We were parked in front of a small house with off-white siding clutching at walls that had survived years of weather damage and survived to tell of it. A splintered wooden fence divided the property from those around it. There was a fire somewhere inside, judging from the smoke, and a forgotten soccer ball lay half hidden near some shrubs under the front windows. It had a very nice homely look to it that completely went against the vibe I was getting.

Dark magic had been done here recently, and lots of it.

"Nice place," I said, only half sarcastic, as I shut the door. I started walking towards the house before Ryan had the chance to get around the car. Mortal magic and magic from any other being is different because humans have something that the supernatural community does not; we rely on our feelings, our raw emotion, to reach it. That type of draw leaves sensations that nothing from the Never-never could. I let myself stand there, feeling out those traces.

Whoever this was, taking them on alone was the stupidest thing I think I'd ever be doing, and here was the proof. Not even one person, or creature, that I faced down had left traces that lasted after the sunrise has washed them away. And this was days ago.

"Can I use your phone?" I turned to Ryan, watching him jump as at the suddenness of it. I must have been still enough before for my question to surprise him.

"Phone?"

"Yes, phone. You know, that new fangled technology that lets us talk to the person next door because we can't get off our lazy ass and ring the bell. That kind of phone."

Ryan was speechless for a few seconds. I watched his forehead crease as he stared up at me and I realized what words came out of my mouth. "Now see here-"

"Sorry!" I raised my hands in defense and took a step back. Ryan may have been a good foot-and-some shorter, but he looked like he could bring down and elephant. "I didn't mean that. Sometimes my mouth doesn't consult my brain. I really am sorry. I need to make a phone call to check in with a friend of mine and see if we can't figure out what's haunting you." I let myself take in the other houses, feeling traces of the same magic, but nowhere near as strong as what was coming from Ryan's. As if the ground itself were absorbing the power, patches of the lawn were dying and other areas were a strange mixture of green and gray that I had never seen grass turn before. "-and the others. I've never run into something like this before but maybe I know someone who has."

Ryan shook his head, his hands clenching into fists before he calmed down and nodded to me. I'd lost his trust because I let my stupid nerves get the best of me. I admit it, I have a bad habit of running my mouth when I'm scared.

I followed him into the house. I really should have been more sympathetic anyway. It was obvious people in this place didn't get many disturbances, and this one was not only disturbing beyond what anyone could be prepared for, but it had found a way to attack this man's son when he was right next to him. That had to hurt.

I was up the wooden stairs and past the balcony with two comfortable looking rocking chairs before I had myself together again. I knew who I wanted to called. The only problem was, I didn't have Ivy's number memorized and it was sitting at home on a the back of some paper somewhere. The second person I knew never carried a cell. Not that he could. The Council always had him running all over the place, so it wasn't like I could get a hold of him even if I did have a way to contact him. That left me with Michael. Who was not up for the task of helping me on this one. So that would make this two phone calls, one to Michael for information, and the other one to Thomas, if he could be dragged away from the girls long enough to be of any help to me.

The living room had a nice, old world feel to it, much like my apartment. There were thick rugs on the wooden floor with a slow burning fire, and even a cat to boot. The small creature padded over, light footed with four white paws and a paint-splash of white that marred its black body. Mister was almost double his size, but there was something to be said about smaller animals. No matter what they were, they were cute.

"Here." Ryan stood with his arms folded in from of a mounted phone on the wall. "If they can help, then I'm all for letting you make as many calls as you need."

"Just two," I assured him, pressing in Michael's number as I did so. "I shouldn't be long."

Ryan stood next to me as the phone rang. I didn't mind the obvious eavesdropping, as long as I didn't have to skirt around anything important to get my information. Michael picked up on the second ring with his kids screaming in the background.

"Hello?"

"Hey." I didn't introduce myself. I didn't need to at this point. "I need you help identifying something. I thought I may be connected to your old work. The only problem is that it's human." I let that hang in the air for a second. "A kid's in trouble. If you can help, I'd appreciate it."

"Harry, I'm retired." He held no argument in his voice though, only worry. "What is it?"

So I rehashed the situation back to him. It took only a few minutes to state a problem that it would take days and _a lot_ of help to fix. If I could. I was holding the phone with my left hand, feeling it shake unsteadily in my fingers.

"That doesn't sound like anything I've run into before." Michael hesitated, drawing away from our conversation to scold young Harry when he tried to get his father's attention in a creative sounding way. I couldn't help smiling. It disappeared when Michael turned his attention back to me. "Have you seen the child that was infected?"

_Infected?_ Not the word I would have used, but I guess it worked in a way. Dark magic was like a disease when it touched you, on the receiving or dealing-out end. "Not yet. I was hoping to figure out what I was up against first. If there's something that possessing him..." I didn't know how to finish the sentence. I wasn't that I was afraid of whatever had placed its mark on the kid, but going in there unprepared when the person, or creature somehow using human magic, could have set up any number of spells to guard against its prey falling into the right hands, was like asking to be killed.

"The child comes first Harry."

I sighed. Yeah, I knew that too. The only problem was that I liked to be rational in my approach. Me, rational, go figure. Michael believed everything was destined to turn out the way it was supposed to, no matter what actions we took. There was a plan for everything. Well, if I believed that I wouldn't have stayed sane for so long. If I believed every victim I'd come across, every killer I'd seen go free, and every child I'd seen attacked followed the path that was plotted out for them, for that to happen, I wouldn't be able to go on with my life. God wasn't the one down here, doing the dirty work, so someone had too. But of course, Michael thought that was our civic duty to be the tools He used, so that most of the crap didn't hit the fan. I wasn't okay with that either. If God made me with this stubborn streak of rebellion, hey, blame Him then.

"So you've got no idea what I'm up against and you want me to waltz into whatever person or who-knows-what's territory like I own the place? Works for me." I paused. "Thanks."

"Sorry that I can't help you, Harry." There was a pause before he said my name, obviously meant to address both me and young Harry who I could hear still annoying his father in the background.

"No problem, man. I'll talk to you later." I hung up, feeling a new weight settle over me. He was right; I had to check up on Joshua. Who knows what happened to the kid or what dark magic was still hanging over him. Thomas first though, for rational reasons of course. I wasn't putting anything off. It made more sense for me to get him on his way out here, since he wouldn't arrive before nightfall even if he left that second. Yeah, I was just being smart.

And of course, Thomas chose that moment not to pick up his phone. Damn it.

For the heck of it, I tried a second time. Really, I wasn't worried. Not at all. My heart suddenly slowing twenty beats per minute when my brother finally decided to answer his cell was purely coincidental.

"'ello?"

"Hey, Tho-"

"Harry, I'm kinda busy right now. I'll call you back later."

It sounded like Thomas was panting. I raised an eyebrow that he couldn't see, but Thomas sensed it and let out a shaky laugh. "I'm not doing anything like that, Harry. I would have thrown the phone across the room and called you back in an hour, or four."

"Right. Go dancing on kittens for all I care, but I need you right now. Make time."

Thomas sighed. "It better be important or Lara's gonna kill me for running off before I finished one of her errands."

"Tell her to bill me. Now, I need you to get on the Amtrak and get your sister-dotting butt down to..." I recited the address to him "as quickly as you can. Be careful when you get here. I don't know what's going on but better to be safe than sorry."

"I never like hearing you tell me to be safe. It always means that, no matter what I do, there is no 'safe'. Why in the world do you want me to take the train though? I do have the vehicle."

"A loud, noisy, gas guzzling vehicle that will make whatever or whoever is out here notice you right away. You have to admit, it doesn't really work when you're trying to remain inconspicuous."

"I'm hanging up now, Harry. I guess I'll be there when I get there." Thomas laughed before ending the call. "You get to be the one to deal with Lara when we get back."

I hung up the phone. If I was making a big deal out of all of this, then sure, having a spout with missus Queen of the White Court didn't seem like a bad way to blow off steam. If I was right, going up against her would be like a walk in the park. Or if I was lucky, I wouldn't make it back to Chicago at all.

Okay, now to figure out what was going on with the kid. I tapped my fingers lightly against my leg, looking anywhere but at my client. There were a few more things that I wanted to check out, but they could wait.

"Where's your son then? Can I see him?"

"He's upstairs." Ryan led the way into a small hall with a closet built into the left side. Wooden, creaky stairs that were narrow enough for only one person to travel through at a time, provided the way to the second landing. I felt the wood creak almost comfortably beneath my boots. Dis old homes all you want, they knew their limits and the creaking just meant the place was kind enough to give you warning on how far to push before you fell through.

There were four closed doors, each spaced unevenly across from each other so they formed a type of zigzag. I followed him to the first door on the left. Ryan knocked softly. "Joshua, it's me. I'm coming in and I'm bringing a friend of mine. We're going to make you better this time, I promise.", his words only just loud enough to make it through the thick door. "

He turned the knob before waiting for his son to answer. I followed Ryan into the room. Nothing felt any worse than it had outside. The whole house was woven through with the dark aura of magic. Of course, that was the house, not the people. When I entered far enough to see the boy, I found myself clenching my staff as hard as I could.

The boy was sitting in bed. He was either short for his age, or hadn't hit puberty yet. His hair was darker than his father's, an inky black that should have mixed well with his tanned skin had he been healthy. His bangs fell in a wave across his face, oily looking and cut wrong enough to notice. His skin was slick as well. If I thought his father's eyes looked like they had film over them, Joshua's looked like someone had taken that fogged up glass they used in showers and placed it under his lids. It was so bad, I couldn't even tell what color they were.

"Stay here." I placed a hand on Ryan's shoulder, nodding to him as I stepped forward. I held out my hand towards the kid. I'd have to touch him to really see what was going on. I didn't think I could handle Looking at him for the time being. I could tell he was messed up, I didn't need to See it.

I brushed the tips of my fingers lightly through his hair, seeing what was supposed to be his eyes as they watched me with no apparent care that a complete stranger was touching him. What I got wasn't good.

No doubt his memories had been tampered with. When I looked inside, all I could sense was confusion from him. He had no idea who I was. He had no idea what was wrong with him. No idea anything _was_ wrong with him. And no idea who Ryan was. I couldn't b believe that whoever - ah, whatever did this went far enough to erase his own father from his mind.

I tried to send my own feelings of comfort to him while I continued prodding.

Nothing was possessing him, that I was sure of. There wasn't enough of him there to possess. Metaphysical chunks of him were missing, but it wasn't what had left him in such a state. Whoever had been tampering with memories had gone all out on the kid. They were there, somewhere, but I couldn't reach them. I when I tried, something akin to a flash of heat struck me and I withdrew my hand.

That doesn't make any sense.

"What's wrong with my son?"

I turned to Ryan, realizing I must have spoken aloud. "I don't know. Something touched him, something dark. It was essentially eating him." _But it didn't finish_. That's where it confused me. What we are, who we are, is made up of our lives, our memories. Something or someone had taken those memories away from the boy, making it so he was nothing more than a living doll that was unable to fend for itself. If things were left this way, he'd die. Maybe not next week, but by the end of the year. People can't live without their spiritual selves. It was like taking away water from a person but worse because it was slower and a hell of a lot more painful. If he didn't have his memories to fight against all the missing parts of his spirit, they would only keep rotting away until there was nothing left. I'd seen several people lose bits of themselves before, but as long as they were strong and carried on with their lives, they were fine. Joshua was defenseless.

"Where's this mark?"

"Something was eating my son?"

"Where's the mark?" I snapped. I took a deep breath and looked away until I was ready to face Ryan again. "Yes, something was eating him, but not physically. I can't fix it, but I might still be able to help him. It will take a while before he's back to his normal self again, but it will happen. In order for me to do that, I need to track down whatever it is that caused it so that it won't happen again."

Our eyes met and I quickly looked away before anything started. Ryan had enough to deal with that adding all the crap that was me wouldn't help. "I'm trying to help you."

It took a while, but Ryan sighed, stepping forward and pulling up Joshua's shirt over his chest. On the left side, right were the heart would be, was a small hand print. There were half inch long veins that sprouted out from it that were equally as black. I would have thought it was a burn mark, but it looked more saturated than it did dried out.

I reached forward, hesitating over it. Even without touching it, I could feel its power. Power enough to eat the life out of the kid. Yet it hadn't. I drew back. Maybe when Thomas came, I'd try and see what I could figure out. Dark magic was unpredictable. If something happened to me, I wanted Thomas there to stop it.

"How long has he been like this?"

"Four days," Ryan whispered miserably. "I've had doctors and people like you come to see him, but none of it helped. The last person I brought up here- she took one look at him and left the house. She gave me your number before disappearing."

I raised an eyebrow. "What was her name?"

Ryan shook his head. "Tanya, I think. She said she didn't actually know you, but that you were the person that I should talk to."

That was a strange but not entirely unwelcome thought. Because of Elaine and I, it seemed that most of the members of the Paranet now knew my name.

"If this has been happening to you regularly, do you mind if I stay the night? My partner won't be getting here until later this evening." Gods, I was starting to sound professional. Maybe the black magic was getting to me.

"There's a guest room down the hall. My wife and I sleep on the first floor." Ryan didn't look very comfortable with that. "Joshua can sleep with us."

"I came out here to help your son, not kidnap him. If you're worried about it though, I don't see the harm. Once I get a trace of whoever's been coming around here, I'll see if I can get some information."

"I don't mean to distrust you, but so much has happened. We couldn't handle it if something worse happened to him."

"Now that you bring it up, where is your wife?"

"She works in town." Ryan brought up his wrist and stared at a copper-linked watch with confusion. "That's weird. She should be here. I was distracted, and Harper had needed some help at his house so I lost track of time. I'm sorry I was late getting to the station. She should have been home hours ago."

I am really someone who believes in coincidences. Heck, lots of things could go wrong in a day and chance is sometimes all I have to go on. But something small like being several hours late when someone who was claiming to be a wizard checked on your sick son - well, I didn't think this was a coincidence.

I went downstairs, hearing Ryan follow me. I paused at the bottom of the steps, passing the kitchen and a dining room that had a large door leading out to a veranda, before reaching two doors, one to a bathroom and the other to their bedrooms. I walked in, staring at the desk.

"This hers?" I asked, picking up a hair brush with chocolate colored strands.

Ryan nodded. "Why?"

"Because we're going to figure out why she's so late."


	2. Chapter 2

I'm still new to writing in this fandom, so I hope that I'm improving ^^

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><p><strong>Chapter 2<strong>

The only thing I had on me to work with was my mother's necklace. The hair I had pulled from the brush was tied loosely around the points of the star and I had it dangling in front of my hand as we drove down the street that I had just arrived on from the train. Watching the necklace was hard when the roads weren't paved and I lost what direction it was leaning towards until the road calmed down. After a while, I stopped swearing under my breath so much and simply let it do whatever it wanted. It wasn't as if I could make the road even out. My thoughts played around with that idea for a while before I decided that reconstruction of the countryside was not a good waste of magic.

We missed a few turns because either a bump had made the necklace start doing the Hustle or because I _thought_ that I had accidentally nudged it before I realized it was pulling back towards me. While it was annoying for me, Ryan was downright aggravated. In his defense, it really did look like I wasn't doing anything productive. Even if he did see the pentacle move, he wouldn't believe I was tracking his wife with magic. After the train ride and the time I'd spent at Ryan's house, there was only an hour before sundown, so I figured it was best to let him think I was lazy than worry about what would happen once the sun was gone. Predators loved the dark and I wanted to be back so the kid wasn't left at the house alone.

You didn't have to be a wizard to know that there were creatures that came out when the sun went down. They say you get the simplest concepts from children. Well, children knew to be afraid of the dark. We're all born with the fear of knowing that we aren't he biggest, baddest wolf in the forest; we just choose to ignore that fact, and belittle those that don't.

Another bump jarred me and I tried to get any part of my arm that was in contact with the vehicle away from it so I had a better chance of getting a good reading. "_Damn road_." Ryan looked at me and I shook my head. "Nothing. Where's your wife work anyway?"

He gave me the closest thing to a smile that I'd seen from him so far. "What? Think she's out cheating on me? Even if she was interested in that type of thing, I don't think there's much of that going on at the post office."

"You'd be surprised."

He all but glared at me this time. Hey, it wasn't my fault that there were opportunities everywhere these days. Thomas could walk into a nunnery and walk out with at least half a dozen numbers, even when he wasn't trying. "Not that someone would try to hit on a married woman."

I was apparently becoming a pro at creating awkward silences. There were times when even Billy was at a loss for words around me. Then again, he'd thought I was insane not long ago, not without good reason, but that type of thing left an impression on you. Even when he was right in more ways than I would let him know. That's what happens when you spew whatever words come to you without thinking about them. Most of the people who knew me well enough to know I was kidding were hours away and I was stuck with a man I'd all but outright insinuated had married a woman who was cheating on him.

"Stop!"

Ryan slammed on the breaks. Hard.

I smashed my arm against the dashboard to brace myself because I wasn't wearing a seat belt. I was too focused on other things to care as I threw open the door. There was something here. It wasn't even nightfall yet and I felt the same presence that I'd gotten a whiff of at the house. It was human and it was strong.

Worst of all, it was tinted with dark magic. There were just tendrils of it here, but follow a web and it will lead you to a spider.

"What's the matter?"

I turned to think of what to do with Ryan. He didn't get out of the car. Smart man. Maybe he was smart enough to sit still for a minute while I tired to figure out where the energy was coming from.

We were near another small neighborhood that I hadn't been through before, a forest weaving in and out of it like a snake. I stood near the road still and could see a house up on a hill in front of me, white, lighted, and filled with the sounds of a television turned up way too loud. In front of me was a path that led to nothing but sparse little oaks and maples. The forestation had tried to thrive here but was entangled by weeds that were literally eating away at them. I'd seen some of the same weed when I was growing up. They ate at the roots of the trees, stealing the nutrients, all the while not killing them wholly so that they could keep feeding off of them like a parasite.

It had a very spooky feel to it, but it didn't look threatening. Not totally comfortable, but with that edge to it that warned you that something might happen because, really, there were strange things that happened every day and you might be that one out of a hundred that it happens to. The small path of trees led up the hill and I followed, using my staff to keep my footing. I was lucky I did because those weeds were good at hiding deep holes and I almost fell back down the way I came after only a few steps. I felt like I was trying to climb Mount Everest without a rope.

"Where are you going?"

"Stay put" I said. I turned back to look at Ryan. He was in the truck with the engine running and all but shouting that he wanted to leave. "What's that matter?"

"Nothing. I just- What are we doing here? Weren't we looking for Melissa?"

I raised my hand, showing my pentacle that was now glowing a faint blue as I willed some of my power into it. It was getting dark and the shadows under the trees reached out their web-like fingers. The necklace pulled to my right, up the hill. "She's this way."

"How do you know?"

This is why I didn't like clients coming with me. They never understood, nor did I expect them to. People were going to be people, and all I could do was be me in return. "The monkey on my back told me, now stay put."

I wasn't going to wait for him, even if he did follow. The trail was fresh.

After a few steps in, I noticed a spell over the area that I had to fight against. It was a warding and it was throwing off my make-shift tracking spell. It was easy enough to keep it up, but it wasn't effortless. As long as I wasn't performing any of my larger tricks, the lighting and tracking spells which took only a will and a focus, wouldn't be snuffed out.

I almost fell again when I was near the top. I hated this place. I was never again going to complain about Chicago's constant noise again. So what if half the city was awake and doing god knows what at all hours of the night? It was too quiet and too dark here.

Ryan had actually followed me. I only noticed because something made me stop dead in my tracks. I waited for him to catch up, watching the white house I'd seen from the foot of the hill while I did.

"Remind me again why we're trespassing?"

I didn't answer him. I was still focusing on removing the barrier.

Someone really didn't want me here.

The practitioner I was hunting down was looking more and more dangerous by the second. Barriers aren't easy things to set up when you put them out in the elements. A gust of wind or unwary traveler could knock something out of place and the whole thing comes crumbling down. Whoever set this one up managed to put a barrier around the perimeter as well, so that it couldn't be tampered with. I had to use raw force to try and break through.

"Stand back."

He backed up. Again, I give him credit for having the brains that most people don't have. It comes with not being taken seriously. With what happened to his son, I guess he was taking me seriously.

I raised my right hand, placing it so that it was in contact with the magical barricade. It was like putting my palm up up to a vacuum in reverse. It's been a while since I've had to break through one this way so I took a few more seconds to focus my will. It was late and I didn't want to get anyone's attention, which required even more time for me to iron everything out. A fat lot of good I'd do if I were sitting in jail without Murphy to get me out.

So instead of trying to break the whole thing apart at once, I concentrated on the area just under my palm. It isn't very hard to break something if you keep chipping away at the same spot. In minutes I had a nice little hole all ready for what I had planned next.

"Vento servitas."

My duster flew around me in a sudden gust from the magic that was being reflected off of the ward. Had I had anything not attached to me, say a hat or a pair of glasses, it would have been laying somewhere half a mile away now. The same current of air rushed into the barrier like a trapped animal, throwing up branches, random bits of clothing and trash that had been discarded in the area, and I was sure I saw and unfortunate chipmunk caught in the blast.

Ryan took a few more steps back with an arm up to block his face. I waited until he was out of my peripheral vision and willed the last bit of power necessary to turn the gust into a hurricane.

The barrier came down.

And with that all my senses were free to feel what lay beyond it. I couldn't help falling onto one knees as the overriding scent of the magic that had been cast washed over me. It was powerful beyond words and as dark as any of the great demons I had faced down in the past, if not worse. The aroma of fresh blood and the left over emotions of great a pain came with the sensations, clouding my judgment for a moment while I got got my head back together.

"Mister Dresden?"

"I'm fine." I dusted off my pants and stared bleakly into the area that left even the trees with whispers of death. "I don't think your wife is."

"How do you know? What happened just now? What did you do?"

I turned to him. "You hired a wizard. I did what anyone else in my profession that was worth their two cents would have done, except with style. Whoever it is that's after you must know I'm here, or they knew they'd be getting the attention. A simpler barrier would have kept anyone normal out of here."

Walking forward through the broken branches I followed the black magic to where I knew it would lead. I didn't need my senses telling me every second that I should turn around and go back home somewhere safe. Hiding under my blankets in my room sounded like a good idea but it wouldn't get me anywhere and it wouldn't make the danger go away.

About twenty-five feet in I found my first clue. I had to back up and turn away.

"You wouldn't happen to know what your wife was wearing tonight, would you?"

"Ah, I think she had on her white shirt and black pants. She always likes to look nice when she goes to work."

"White shirt, huh? Is it long-sleeved with a button on the cuff?"

"Yeah."

"Then I think this is where we call the police." I backed away from the scene so I wouldn't mess it up. Who knows, the cops may be able to find clues I wouldn't. I didn't need to have a closer look to see what had killed her. It had been done fast, tearing clean through muscle and bone from the part of her arm that I found laying on the floor. Her fingernails were dark and broken from where she must have tired to fight off whoever was attacking her.

Ryan had to look and I backed away when I heard him take in a shaky breath that was half a sob and half a sound a person only makes when they've lost something as dear to them as their life. When I started to hear him cry, I walked away, letting him have his privacy."

He came over to me about fifteen minutes later with red-rimmed eyes and his fists clenched so tight I think he'd broken through his skin.

"That was my wife."

"I know." There was no joy in my acknowledgment. I took the hairs out of the necklace and let the blue light fade out into nothing as the darkness fell around us, hiding the scene from human eyes.

"What could have done that to her?"

I shrugged. "Magic, maybe a demon or some sort of spirit. I'm not sure. It feels human and I don't think anyone summoned anything here, but there's so much energy floating around that I can't sense anything more than the fact that it was done by someone with incredible power."

"But that doesn't make sense. Who would want to hurt my wife? I've never heard of any _magic_ before! I mean, she didn't do anything! And all this- this stuff that's happening, it doesn't make sense! Someone just killed my wife and you're going to stand there saying that it was something out of a story book?"

"I'm trying to help you, Mister Fairwell. I'm telling you what you hired me to find out."

"For all I know you could have done this and then found her! You could- Oh my god."

"I didn't kill your wife. I found her with magic, yes. Magic is real. I only need you to believe me and then go happily on with your life it you want and pretend I was never here. But do not accuse me of murder!"

Ryan wiped a hand across his face, trying to calm down. "This doesn't make sense."

"You called me out here because it wasn't making sense. Now I don't know what happened here, but I had no part in it. I'm going to help you find who did this, and who's attacking your son, but you have to let me do my job. Right now we need to call the police. I don't want them thinking I had something to do with this either..." I thought about it. "If you can, don't bring up anything I've said. I find cops tend to want to throw you in the loony bin when you do that and I'm sure you don't want to share a trip in a padded cell with me when you tell them about the gaps in your memories. We found her because I was looking around the area for clues to who was vandalizing your house. That's simple enough."

Ryan nodded to me, looking up into my eyes so that I had to turn away.

"You really didn't do this?"

"I really didn't do it."

"Then why won't you look at me."

I hesitated. "Because you won't like what you see. I didn't kill your wife, but I haven't exactly been a saint either. Wizards are different then normal people. I don't think you'd really want to see what I'm like. Hell, I even have trouble looking in the mirror on some days."

"And you're asking me to trust you. My wife is dead. This isn't a game."

"It's never a game. People die every day from things that humanity wants to turn away from. Do you think a saw did that? I'm asking you to trust me long enough for me to help you, then you can hate me and do whatever it is you want. Don't even think my name if you don't want to. Right now though, we do need the police out here."

"I'll call them." He was clearly uneasy around me. I didn't notice it half as much as I noticed how upset and utterly defeated he seemed. It was clear that he had loved his wife dearly and finding her in pieces, littered around the forest like garbage, would get any man angry. Angry enough to cause trouble. I had to watch him from now now. This practitioner I was up against was good and if he went up against them out of anger, it would be Ryan that the police had to scrape up off the ground next.

Ryan got on his cell and I walked away so I wouldn't interfere with the signal. We were already in the middle of nowhere as it was so I had to think reception was sketchy. I could hear his voice trail after me, laced with sorrow and guilt as he told the operator on the other end of the line what had happened.

He joined me a few minutes later on the edge of the trees.

"They'll be here in a few minutes."

"Station must be pretty close by then." I leaned against a tree and let myself feel the area around me for any sign that my catch had gone back to the road or vanished off into the woods.

Something on the edge of my senses suddenly flashed and I spun to the side where a thick grove of trees blocked everything from my view.

I raised my blasting rod as I closed in on them instead of waiting for them to come to me.

A figure I hadn't sensed, let alone seen, shot out of the tree next to me and I had my shield bracelet raised and a half-dome up in seconds.

My assailant knocked on it with their knuckles to the beat of _'What's New Pussy Cat?'_

"Hell's bells," I swore, lowering my hand. "You scared the life out of me!"

"That's funny. You don't look dead." Thomas sauntered over while I growled at him under my breath.

"That was not funny."

"Maybe not for you. It was hilarious for me. Don't you see me doubled over in laughter?" My brother smiled warmly at me. It wasn't an apology. He was definitely gloating. "I didn't think I'd be able to sneak up on you."

"Yeah, well, you had the element of surprise. Sensing you in all this mess when I'm not trying is like a needle in a haystack and all that jazz. I'm sure even you can feel what happened."

Thomas shook his head. "Not so much as I can smell it."

"Right, Fido." I lowered my weapons and turned my head to Ryan. "Meet our client."

Thomas looked Ryan over and the man did the same. Thomas and I looked like polar opposites except for the fact they we both blended well with the darkness. His black coat and hair hid him as well as my duster and darker hair did. Not that hiding for me was easy, particularly if I were moving. Thomas had snuck up on me pretty good. I never saw him coming except for when it would have already been too late. I had to give him kudos for that.

"_Our_ client? Since when have I ever worked for you? I'm no detective."

"I'm not asking you to be. You're more of hired muscle, if you want a title. I'm sure working that brain of yours too hard will fry it out so we'll leave that job up to me."

"Oh, ha ha, Harry, very funny. Besides the dead body, what's going on? You said it was important."

I turned back. I may not have been able to see her, but I knew there was a dead woman up there and that part of the responsibility for that lay with me. I knew that someone had already attracted the son and his father so I should have been more worried about the mother when I came. If I'd asked to meet with her, things may have turned out differently.

"Hey, I got it. Bad things are happening. They usually are around you." Thomas clamped a hand on my shoulder. "I'm here now, _little_ brother." He ignored me while I continued to growl at him as he went up to Ryan and offered his hand. "Thomas Raith. Call me Thomas."

"Ryan Fairwell," Ryan introduced himself, confused. "How did you find us?"

"Little tracking spell of my own." Thomas pulled out his pentacle necklace that was identical to my own. "As long as Harry's close by, I can pull off enough magic to find him, though I'm not in the profession."

"Magic, right." The man was still in a daze about it all and I couldn't blame him. I sighed and turned back to Thomas.

"Mind waiting somewhere nearby? The police are on their way and you'll only make things more difficult."

"Sure, call me at a seconds notice, tell me to get on a train and get here as fast as I can, then run me off." Thomas winked at me. "I'll be back when they're gone."

To show off to me or because he'd overheard my conversation with Ryan and discovred what a skeptic he was, Thomas used more of his power then he had to so that he was sprinting fast enough to make it look like he'd disappeared into the trees.

"This is too much. Who was that anyway, and how can he help? I feel like even the police won't be able to help me."

"That," I looked at him in the eye for a second to get my point across before looking down his nose, "is my brother and he's one of the best monster-butt-kickers I know, so when we find out whoever is doing this and how they're doing it, you'll be sure that they won't be able to so much as blink when we're through with them."

"Oddly enough, that's reassuring."

I waited with Ryan until two squad cars and an ambulance came a few minutes later. The officers took down our stories, eyeing me suspiciously and repeatedly asking what we were doing out there at that time of night and how we happened to find the body. I lied through my teeth and Ryan went along with it. Without any evidence to prove otherwise, they let us go while a forensics team arrived to try and find any clues.

We walked over to the truck and got in. A light shake in the back told me Thomas was in the bed. He didn't have to do it, since I was sure he could have gotten in without either of us knowing, but I was still on high alert and Ryan had been through enough. I opened the back window slot and Thomas poked his head in.

"So, want to tell me what's going on, now that we have the time? I think I'll make a pretty lousy partner otherwise."

"Someone's been after their kid. I don't know what it is, maybe you might. I'll let you see when we get back. There were no signs of it before, but I think the whole family is in danger now." I shared a look with Ryan as he started the truck and headed back to his place. He nodded to me.

"I don't care, as long as Joshua is safe. I need to know who did this."

I nodded back. "I know. And you will."

And hopefully no one else will have to die before I figured it out.


	3. Chapter 3

Okay, first of... been a VERY long time since I've touched this story.I'm sorry. Other stories and other things have come up so it's... it's probably going to be lower on my list of stories that are going to get updated since it's still in the beginning and it's going to be a longer story.

Second. No beta. Sorry. I think I had one? It's been so long. If there are some really obvious mistakes, I'll read through it again when I haven't already been staring at it so long.

This story will be updated, I know where I'm going with it and what's going to happen, but because I have so many stories it will take a while.

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><p><strong>...<strong>

**Chapter 3**

Thomas yawned and that got me going too. The sun was starting to rise and the light filtered in through the kitchen windows without any buildings to stop it.

"Harry, I really don't know what you're up against. I never saw anything like that before, and if it's a wizard, you'd think that you would have heard about someone like this from the council or something. I'm sure terrorizing a family isn't the first thing someone with this much power would be doing."

"Firstly," I held up a finger. "This isn't _me, _its _us._ You said you were going to help me and I'm not letting you back out now."

"Right," Thomas grinned, though it was strained with more than just lack of sleep.

"Second, I'm not sure if it is a wizard. It might be someone messing around, summoning things beyond their control. This family doesn't even have to be the target."

"You would have sensed something like that though, right?"

"Maybe. Maybe it's strong enough to hide it's energy from me."

"Harry, anything that powerful wouldn't be able to hid unless it were as old as time itself, and again, it wouldn't be going about terrorizing a family that has no traces in the supernatural community."

"I know." I shook my head, feeling sleep tug at me. "But nothing else makes sense."

"I've got little more than nothing as well." Thomas shrugged his shoulders, holding his hands up in defeat. "Then again, I'm not the detective. I'm more like the astonishingly good-looking sidekick."

"Who'll become the astonishingly un-good looking one if you don't help me out with this. We're just running ourselves in circles." I rested my head on the back of their sofa, feeling very invasive for some reason. Ryan was upstairs with his boy, so I shouldn't have felt like he was watching me slack off in his house, on his case, after what had just happened to his wife. "We need something to go on, but the area was wiped clean. The warding spell was only set up while the spell itself had time to disintegrate. Unfortunately, I blasted away any trace of our culprit by adding in my own. So now... our only lead is the family..."

"And we're going to wait for one of them to be attacked again?"

I clenched my hand into a fist. I wasn't about to put the kid in danger. Whoever it was had marked him, almost like someone would a lamb for slaughter. I wasn't about to let that happen. I'd already let his mother slip through my fingers, I wasn't about to let it happen again. I had more than a little guilt riding on me in that area too. I knew what it was like to be without one.

Thomas's eyes on me and the fact that it look like he was waving his hand in my direction for some time knocked me out of my daywishing. "What?"

"I don't know if it's very legal or whatever, but can't you make some sort of spell that lets us look like them? We could get them somewhere safe then and that whatever or whoever is after them by surprise."

"I'd love for it to be that easy." I really would. "First off, everyone has a different energy, wizards and vampires would be hard pressed to dim ours down enough to pass for human in anything inhuman's eyes. We're not usually prey." Usually. I knew I was making the list for all the wizards that wanted to be some other creature's meal.

"So we can fool the eyes though?"

"Maybe." I had no idea what Thomas was getting at. Fooling a dog by looks alone would do nothing since most creatures relied on scent the same way I relied on my wizard senses. Energy could be felt long before anything could be seen if you know how to feel it out.

"So…" Thomas looked at me as if something should have dawned on me. I stared back blankly, not understanding what he wanted from me. Thomas let out a sign.

"So you have human friends Harry. Sure, I'm one of the inhuman community, but if one of them were willing to play the part, I'd say ask and then take them up on that offer. That, or we're both going to try and protect these people we don't even know, probably half-assed if our lives are on the line – or at least that way in my case. You on the other hand are crazy – instead of our friends."

"I can't ask that." There were a few I could have in the past. Now… I wasn't willing- no, I wasn't able to in a few cases.

"I will then. Give me numbers." Thomas took out his phone and was ready to dial but I wasn't willing to give up any of the people I knew who could, and very well would, get attacked by a creature I couldn't identify. Susan… Susan had more or less put herself in that kind of danger, and I hadn't been able to protect her. Human's were too weak. _I_ was too weak. Whatever this enemy, I knew I wouldn't be able to take it, at least not alone. I wouldn't have called Thomas over otherwise.

"I'm waiting, unless you can think up a better plan."

"You don't need to call anyone."

I nearly had a heart attack, jumping out of my seat and finding that I didn't have my blasting rod in my hand, magical kinetic energy about to be unleashed when something in the voice overroad my speeding heart and my hand went to my chest instead of at the sudden new guest.

"Molly, don't do that."

Molly, my apprentice, was standing before me, lilac hair making her stand out from near everyone else in the world. Her eyebrow and nose ring dotted her face with black, no strange shapes or sparkles on them like she normally wore. She was smiling at me as a child would who had just gotten away with something and was pleased with themselves.

Thomas must have jumped up too because he was at my side and had drawn a small knife that I hadn't seen on him before. I knew he had to have some of his more old and well-used weapons in the hummer but I had thought he was unarmed.

Thomas put away his weapon more slowly and for the first time I realized that my brother was thinking more clearly than me. We had just finished talking about fooling someone's eyes and my guard had dropped completely right when I saw who I believed to be Molly.

After reaching out my senses, just to be safe, I knew it was indeed my apprentice. That would have been a really good way to take me out if it had been one of my enemies though.

"Molly, what are you doing here?"

"Well, you left and didn't tell me where you were going… so I followed you." Molly expression had changed subtly as she felt me sense out her energy. "What's going on?"

"Monster hunting. And you're not supposed to be a part of it." I went back over to the couch, my racing heart nearly hurting my chest now that my body knew there was no danger. "Go back home."

"I heard what you were talking about. You need someone who's energy you can't sense. I've been here since… For a while. I wasn't able to get back into the car when you took off earlier. If I'm so useless, why didn't you notice?"

I hadn't said useless but her words surprised me. I had done a sweep of the house right when I came, found the left over energy that was soon dissipating. I hadn't sensed Molly at all. Not. At. All. That really was impressive.

"Grasshopper, you don't understand. Even if I did use your help. Listen now. I don't need you to hide your energy. If they don't sense their own, along with human, they won't be fooled."

"She could hide us though," Thomas spoke up, though I really wished he wouldn't. "Whoever or whatever it is will literally not see us coming. And whoever helps us won't be in danger because we could be right next to them."

I had already figured that out for myself, but I didn't want Molly involved. I wasn't much for the sensitive things in magic and that dark energy interlaced into the boys own… it was something old, something dark, and something that could send a girl like her home to a mental ward.

Molly was looking at me because apparently this was my decision. It was supposed to be, but I wasn't used to her automatically giving me that authority.

"Molly, look. We don't know what we're up against but it's powerful. If can't protect you if I'm trying to protect myself, and Thomas is here to back me up- not you."

"I got it boss. So I'll shield you, you'll both run out, and I'll keep myself hidden and take cover somewhere."

Not a bad idea, if Molly would listen to her own advice. I gave her a look that said as much.

"Harry." Thomas interrupted before our staring match could come to an end. "She's willing to help and we need it. Like you said, we don't know what we're up against either. She's at least able to hide herself and if you both need me to watch your backs, I can do it."

The look Thomas gave me said more than he would protect us. We needed the help and he already knew that going with me had a high chance of killing him, the same as it did me. He wouldn't force me to take the help, but he would really like it if I did.

I let out a breath in defeat. "Fine Molly." That didn't solve our earlier problem but fine.

"Um…" Molly looked around nervously, her hand going to hold her arm. There couldn't be any more obvious body language in the world.

"Molly, what's wrong?"

"I didn't really come alone."

Apparently our second guest didn't need any more incentive than that. Mouse, who must have been next to Molly, bounded over the couch and right at me. I didn't have time to throw anything up though my shield bracelet had started to store energy. The giant mammoth of a dog decided that it would be in his best interest to make sure that I was fine by soaking me in slobber.

I had no idea how Molly had managed to get Mouse on the same train as I was on but I knew she couldn't have paid and that there was no way they would have allowed pets.

"Sorry. I couldn't find anyone to watch him and I decided at the last second to see where you were going."

I tried to stand, making a second attempt as Mouse sniffed me and refused to let me up. I used the large dog to lift myself to my feet and shake my head. "Great. How am I supposed to bring him back?"

"I can take him."

I turned to my brother with a sigh. Of course he could. Thomas always had a way out and he was clearly on Molly's side right now when she did need discipline.

"Molly, you can't just follow me everywhere. And what am I going to do with Mouse now? This house isn't exactly dog friendly and it's not big enough for him."

Molly didn't look at all ashamed so I gave up, sitting down and Mouse jumping up next to me and resting his big doggy head on my lap. He let out a low whimper and I stared down at him, his doggy eyes looking up at me with questions. Odds were he could sense the energy as well as I could, if not better.

"We still need a human."

I didn't need Thomas to say that. I knew. I didn't want to risk this kid anymore. If I moved him… Molly could hide him. I could imitate the energy, take some from him and put it in some sort of amulet so it wouldn't actually harm the person holding it.

One of the people that I could have, and would have asked, was Michael, Molly's father. Because of me though… he wasn't in the best of shape. He was young and retired and still recovering from his injuries that he had sustained helping me.

The only other human I had taken monster hunting with me in the last century was Murphy, and I was _not_ going to ask her to leave her job to come here, maybe get killed, and all for the sake of playing bait.

There was silence all around for a while before Molly broke it. "It's sad when all the people you're friends with aren't human. You know she'll hate you when she finds out that you let some kid get put in danger when you could have called her."

I scowled at Molly. So what if she was right? Murphy had suffered enough helping me as well, let alone the demotions. "It's not a good idea."

"And why not?" Thomas stood in front of me, both more or less surrounding me since Mouse had me pinned. "I've seen her take on more than some of my own kind. She can handle herself."

"She can, most of the time. Thomas we don't know what this is. I don't see you calling Justine."

Thomas flinched back as if I'd struck him. That made me lean forward again to see what it was I said that had set him off.

"That's different. She's…"

"She's what? Human? Yeah, I know." And they could get hurt so much more easily. I didn't want Murphy hurt and he didn't want Justine hurt, for the same reasons. Not that I would admit any of that to Murphy. She'd slap me before pulverizing me.

"No." Thomas didn't say any more than that though I did notice his already sliver eyes turn a shade lighter. He wasn't ever here on full strength and that was dangerous for all of us… Suddenly I realized the problem.

"Right. Got it. I still can't call her." Thomas was hungry. If he were hurt and fighting, he'd go after the first female in the vicinity. He'd already come close to killing Justine before. Odds were he didn't want to try again. Molly would have to be more careful than I thought.

"Then who can we call because I don't really make those kind of friends, Harry."

Molly stomped her feet around a little before coming to sit on Mouse's other side with me. "I really don't know anyone either. No one that can fight at least." She had stopped hanging around with those kinds of people months ago so I knew she wasn't lying.

If I was putting Molly in this kind of danger, why not Murphy? She could just hide under Molly's shield once the fighting started, because I knew there was going to be fighting. The attack on the mother was downright vicious.

"Fine," I said in a sort of huffed, exhaled breath that told all the occupants of the room I wasn't happy about it. "Give me your phone."

"No thanks. You'll fry it with the way you are now. Give me her number."

"I'll fry _you_. I bet you'd taste delicious. Now hand over your phone."

Thomas took more look at it as if it were the last he was going to see if it before handing it over to me. It was some new model where it was all touching and none of the good old-fashioned buttons. Why was this even necessary? Were the buttons breaking so often they thought making them behind glass would be easier? After pushing a few of the wrong ones, Molly looking over my shoulder and backing me out, I was able to finally dial. Yeah, maybe the phone wouldn't survive. It was already ticking me off and I was ready to throw it out the nearest window.

"Karrin Murphy."

One ring. That either meant she was waiting for a call or bored out of her mind. I had to hope for the latter. "Hey Murph. Are you busy today? And maybe tomorrow?"

I couldn't tell if there was a sigh or not over the static but I did think I heard some conversation going on. A man, maybe. It was hard to tell.

"What and where?"

"Monster. Not really sure what it is. One dead and there's a kid in trouble. About an hour from you." I had no trouble using 'monster' as the description. If this was a person or something from the Nevernever, it was still a monster. You just don't kill like that for anything but fun.

"You never call with anything easy, do you? You know I'm on the clock right now."

"I had to guess," I admitted. It wasn't like I wanted to call her, although I did. Thomas and Molly knew that, but I could at least think that they didn't. "Can you make it?"

"I haven't even had my coffee yet. You really know how to get the day going, Dresden. I'll be there before noon. Give me the address."

The breath I let out wasn't one of relief. Sure I needed Murphy's help, and I was happy that she was her way, maybe even a bit at ease, but that meant one more person to try and protect along with myself. I gave her the address, tried hard to keep my mouth shut when it wanted to start up some witty banter – mostly succeeded – and hung up.

"Now we have to take care of the kid and his dad. Since the police are itching for any reason to pick you up after last night, I think I'll handle getting breakfast ready and hoping for a relaxing morning before she gets here, though with you around I'm not letting this get far." Thomas put the dagger away and went off to the kitchen. I looked at Moll's and wondered if she'd even eaten before she left. Her stomach growling at the mention of food said no, but I couldn't be sure since her eyes were glued and hungry with something else as she stared after Thomas.

I grabbed her hand and went upstairs. "You get to watch Joshua." Someone had to and Molly was a girl, and siblings, and would know how to watch a child better than I would. She would also be able to sense if anything was wrong faster than I would be able to get up there. I spoke quieter as we went up the stairs so only Molly could hear. "_Don't touch him though. Something evil has been here and I don't want to get it attracted to you. If you need something, come get me or shout. His father is in the next room."_

Molly stopped fighting me and nodded solemnly. She had a job to do now. She was learning fast but I was sure she got that part of her from Michael.

I lead her up to the room that the boy was in. I wasn't sure if Ryan had talked to him last night or not, but it didn't really matter. When I took a few steps in I could already tell that nothing had changed for the better… in fact, it almost felt worse, the energy darker. There was a high chance that it could be eating the boy's own essence to strengthen itself.

"This is Josh. If anything comes just shield the both of you. I'd rather it think that he's gone than anything else. Thomas or I will bring up food for both of you. See if you can get him to eat."

I looked back at Molly but she wasn't entering the door. I could see her fingers trembling. _I_ was afraid the moment I sensed the same presence she had to be feeling ten fold, so I couldn't blame her.

I was about to say there was no danger but then I wasn't really sure what the energy was doing. Since there was no connection to the source, it _should_ be fine. Then again, this person or thing knew how to manipulate the mind. Josh and Ryan were proof of that.

"I don't think he'll hurt you. If anything happens, or changes, just call me. It's not his own energy you're feeling so don't be afraid. Test the waters. You can feel him there too, can't you?"

Molly stood there, her hand going out as a guild for her senses. I knew she wasn't going to like touching that darkness, but without physical contact, I didn't think she'd pick up more than what I did. After a full five minutes, she walked in and sat down across the room, near the window. "I'll watch him but Harry… he's really hurt."

"I know." And I said it as if I really did know. I didn't. What I could see of his spirit was just… a mess, but I tried it out a few times and couldn't look at him from more than out of the corner of my eye without feeling madness eat away where some dark… something was there with him.

I went over and patted Molly on the shoulder. "We're here to help him. That's what we do. I'll be downstairs if you need me." I had to do something about Mouse. Maybe having Molly here wasn't such a bad thing. Mouse would be able to sense better when we were in danger than I would be. Canine senses, along with whatever was past down in his bloodline, would surpass my own.

Mouse met me at the bottom of his stairs and I lowered my hand to pet his head.

"This is the first time you've gone on a trip with me." Mouse had never been outside of Chicago since he was a pup. I wondered he'd he react to all the new animals instead of people. The neighbors no doubt would be having no troubles with raccoons or anything while he was here.

Since I had time now I could create a barrier, something that would keep Josh and Ryan safe as long as they held it in place. It shouldn't be hard. Shouldn't anyway. I didn't know who much Ryan would put his trust in magic, and with the loss of his wife, I didn't know how mentally sound his judgment was. There were many people who saw what he did, blamed me, and then wound up dead or punching and/or kicking me as I rescued them from their own ignorance.

"Harry."

I turned into the kitchen where Thomas's voice was coming from. He was standing over a stove full of sausage, bacon, eggs, toast, a few waffles- everything that would make a great breakfast. I was surprised he had so much done so quickly.

"I know you're worried about Molly, but you shouldn't be. If this thing is that dangerous, I can easily get her out of here. I don't want to leave you alone though, so promise me you'll follow and we'll regroup if anything does happen."

"We'll see how things go." No one could predict a battle this far, especially without knowing who your opponent was. "If I can I will."

"Right. Sure. First time I've heard that. When it comes to yourself, you don't _try_ very hard. Did you know that Harry? This better be a 'I will try my very best to make sure the monster doesn't eat my ass' and not a 'I'll try as long as all of you are gone and I'm not afraid it will follow.' At least together you know we have a chance. Alone, you're no better off than this pig here was."

"I hate preaching. I'm a grown man."

"Who acts like a child. Someone has to watch out for you." Thomas took the pan he was holding, flipping the omelet in it without looking or caring if it made it back in. Which of course it did. This was Thomas.

"I don't need a babysitter."

"Yes, you do."

"Says who?"

"Says the guy who's currently having one of the most childish arguments of his life to his brother who's not only blown up or destroyed more buildings than I can count with my fingers, who's made enemies of more bad guys than I've met, and how has as many friends to fight those enemies that can be counted on one hand. Trust me Harry, you're a kid who gets into way too much trouble and needs a babysitter, along with some self-preservation if I could ever get you any of that."

I had to admit, most of that was true, but the way he said it wasn't. There was not snappy comeback but I knew I'd think of one later and then Thomas would be sorry.

"Well, mother, is breakfast ready?"

"Just about." Thomas put the egg he was flipping onto a plate, adding the meats and a small plate for a waffle. "This is Molly's. Take it to her first, _then_ if you're a good boy I'll give you some too."

I snatched the plates away so fast I nearly made the waffle go flying. "Shut it."

"That isn't a very nice thing to say to you're mother," Thomas voice said as it followed after me, a laugh there that I hated. It wasn't my fault that the bad thought I was some tasty snack to come after. Maybe Thomas could help with that and get his sister on a leash and ease some of my troubles. Lara had already nearly killed me three or more times… even if she had helped once or twice.

I opened the door and left the food with Molly. If she could get Josh to eat some of it, that would be great. It didn't look like the boy had eaten in some time and I was sure Ryan was just as worried about that. Having someone relatively younger and female look after he was likely a relief.

Thomas had the other plates all set up in the front room when I came back and I sat next to him, watching Mouse eat a big portion of the same breakfast we were having.

"The dog gets fed better than us."

"The dog has a bigger stomach and going to help a lot more than you are. You're staying back with the family. Mouse and I will draw whomever it is out. That'll give you time to prepare. I'm faster and stronger than you, far better prepared for a surprise attack."

It wasn't a bad idea. I could throw up a shield just fine when I was attacked, but it would be harder to see what I was fighting and judge how best to handle it. Thomas was wicked fast and would at least be able to survive a hit or two if it caught him off guard.

I could see the jaunty smile growing on his lips as I remained silent.

"See? It is easy to come up with a good plan. They just have to come from someone else and not you."

"Shut up," I growl again. Taking a bite of the food. It was good. Of course it was though, Thomas loved showing off.

Before I could finish maybe half of the food which I was dying to eat, considering I was dealing with enough lost energy since none of us slept last night, something sent warning lights on the edges of my senses.

I stood, walking over to the door and picking up my staff and blasting rod. Thomas stayed sitting where he was and Mouse just had his head up and cocked to the side. He wasn't growling and I didn't feel anything dark around the presence but it sure as hell was powerful.

I opened the door, Mouse getting up and going out it before I could stop him. I went out after him, looking and feeling for any signs that would ward me of danger.

There was a woman. I didn't know how to describe her but Egyptian came to mind. Her skin was dark and her hair was pitch black, coal eyes staring at the house. She wasn't human. I never in a million years would have thought she was. She looked human, her body think with a line of muscle along the edges to show it was from working out and not pills or under-eating. She had dark eyeliner around her eyes, thick lashes and some make up on the top of her eyelids that drew the eyes to her face.

Her hair was longer than I had seen on anybody in ages. It was nearly down to her butt, which was covered with short black shorts while she wore a white and very… revealing top, a darker black lace one underneath that, though she was showing more skin than even Molly had gotten away with.

Mouse stopped before I did, his back up and giving a warning sound to show that if she was a foe, he wasn't going to hesitate. I took a few steps closer before following his warning. "Who are you?"

The words she spoke didn't sound like any language I had ever heard. It had a lot of one-syllable words but other than that it sounded like she was speaking some type of strange Chinese. She looked more African, though I always thought they used sounds and clicks for their language.

"I have no idea what you're saying. Do you speak English?" Very stupid question, mostly when I still held her as a potential enemy. She was a girl though and I was a gentlemen. I wasn't just going to attack her because she happened to be here and be powerful.

What was driving me nuts too was she almost fell… like something from the Nevernever. Her aura was more that of a supernatural being than it was a human. She wasn't a wizard, because while I felt some magic off of her, most of it was this ball of outrageous strength, cool and there for the taking if she wanted it.

She felt kind of like a vampire, though none that I had ever met before.

The woman looked me over as I had her, scrutinizing every last detail. I didn't like it at all and something about her eyes just made the very manly part of me color at what she was seeing. It would have helped if she hadn't dressed like that.

"Stand down."

The words were quiet. I hadn't even noticed Thomas leave the house. If he had followed me, he'd done so so silently that my hearing hadn't picked up on it.

"Why?"

"Trust me, Harry. You don't know what you're getting into this time."

Thomas put a hand in front of me and spoke in the same language the girl had, or one very close to it. I still couldn't place all the sounds of the words with any I had encountered before. The woman seemed just as shocked as I was that he was speaking back to her.

They had some short back and fourth's and the only word I recognized was "lamia" though I was sure they weren't speaking that Language. I may be poor at it, even terrible, but I knew my Latin well enough to recognize it. I wasn't surprised she knew he was a vampire, though I wondered if she was calling herself one as well.

Whatever conversation they were having, she suddenly cut it off, yelling something at Thomas.

He looked confused which confused me even more and I felt like the biggest third wheel. She continued to shout and Thomas just held his hands up and shook his head, speaking quieter than she was to try and calm her.

That, apparently, wasn't going to happen. Mouse started growling right before which put me on alert enough to start gathering energy around my shield. Whether she felt it or not and attacked because if it, I don't know, but a whirling sphere of energy came at us, knocking me back ten feet before I hit the ground. I heard a thump close by and a whimper from Mouse, who was back on his feet faster than I was. I didn't see Thomas but a second noise, farther behind him, had me turn to see him getting to his feet and holding his side.

My eyes started going weird on me then. I was seeing black swirls around the edges at first, but they soon overtook my entire vision, like dark clouds. I tried calling magic to me, to clear whatever veil was being put over me, but it was like none I had ever faced before. My magic couldn't even light a candle in this darkness.

Then I was falling asleep. I wasn't sure if the others were near me, if they had broken the spell – which seemed unlikely – or if we were all about to be killed by one of the prettiest monsters I had ever faced. It was a very good dream, compared to most of my nightmares. Nothing was tearing me apart this time and eating my insides or anything disturbing like that.

It felt nice. The blackness didn't feel cold or like it was eating his soul like the blackness that was on Josh.

Maybe, just maybe, compared to all the deaths I was likely going to have and the one eventually that he would, this wasn't the worst way to go. Maybe I wished Thomas and Mouse hadn't been there and the Murphy wasn't on her way right now and that Molly was in the house, but as sleep took me, I found I didn't care.

This was so nice and calm… and relaxing.


End file.
